Were "gods" prior to Judaism actually demons?

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So were the people that worshipped a “god’” before our Abrahamic God was discovered within Judaism, actually worshipping a demon?

What about folks who worship a god in a non Christian manner (like mother earth or father time or something), is that also a demon?
 
Not necessarily. From the Haydock commentary:
Devils. Hebrew elilim, “diminutive gods, (Haydock) nothings, (Calmet) vain things.” (Montanus) (1 Paralipomenon) — We have idols, as Protestants read here. These were in fact, either devils, or vain imaginations of men. St. Paul says, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians viii. 4. They cannot claim self-existence, and if the true God were not to support those creatures, the sun, &c., which have been the objects of adoration, they would presently cease to be. (Haydock) — This most plausible species of idolatry is therefore refuted, since the Lord made the heavens. (Calmet) — The Creator alone can be considered as God; the devils prompt the people to adore other things. (Worthington) — It would appear but a small praise for the Lord to be feared above all gods, (Haydock) if they were “nothing.” Hence the Septuagint have used the word devils, to signify, that these potent, but maleficent beings, which the pagans adored, were infinitely beneath God, and worse than nothing. (Berthier)
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They were human abstractions. I consider them a confused mix of imagination and preternatural experiences. I’d think those experiences were not entirely demonic but tempered by angelic influence.
 
Human beings have an innate desire for God, and so minus the unearned gift of public revelation, they use reason to form imperfect beliefs that are nonetheless much better than a total absence of religion and spirituality. These people have to wait until after death to meet the God they always yearned for.

In other cases it does seem that interior temptation from human concupiscence combined with exterior temptation from the demonic will project itself into human society.

Life is messy
 
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Some of them probably were. Others just simple statues or animals. In Daniel’s Bel and the dragon story, there was nothing special about those idols.
 
Demons were more active in the world before Christ rose from the dead, so it is very likely that at least a few pagan practices were directly commanded by a demon. It isn’t always the case, though; it is an established historical fact and also mentioned in the Bible that many pagans began worshipping another human as a god, which then grew into a more mythical being as time went on. Still, demons usually find some way to involve themselves wherever someone sins.
Episcopalian said:
What about folks who worship a god in a non Christian manner (like mother earth or father time or something), is that also a demon?
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Well, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the Wiccans are worshipping God under another name with “Mother Earth”, but I get your point. The fact is that most pagan societies did believe in the true God, they just didn’t pay him any mind because they also believed in a multitude of lesser gods who were seen as more relevant.

If someone rejected the pagan idols and instead turned to God, as far as they could know Him, then they would certainly not be worshipping a demon. Whether they are worshipping God justly is a matter of debate, though; most people will hold Socrates as the golden standard for how this should be done, while the status of the Cult of Aton is more debatable.
 
No, I don’t think they were demons. They were simply other faith traditions, some of which are related to ours and may have influenced ours.
 
Roy Schoeman, in his book, Salvation is from the Jews, asserts that they were in fact demons who, at times, actually answered “prayers” with concrete signs…yet, Psalm 115 seems to indicate they are just lifeless nothings, although I could be misunderstanding the text…I wonder if the writings of the Saints provide any insight on this topic?
 
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I think it depends on the time and place and people. So, for example, the Greek gods were, on the surface, earthy human like beings that were a long way from being what we now think of as God-like. But on another level, they were abstractions of something a lot more sophisticated. Some philosophers even considered them various aspects of a Being having all perfections that they felt had to exist. But they also had gods and goddesses that were pretty close to what we would think of as satanic. However, they recognized those beings as evil.
 
Strictly speaking, “baal” is a title, not a name. It means “lord” or “master”, as in Beelzebub, properly Baal-Zevuv, “Lord Fly,” i.e. lord of the flies.
 
They were demons, extraterrestrials, or higher beings like angels. Humans who left the earth thousands of years ago may have come back to instruct various nations at the time. We may have thought of them as gods.
 
As others have said, some may have been, some were just human creations. (name removed by moderator)s quote above is a good one. But then consider St. Paul’s words about the unknown god in Athens. So there’s no simple answer. Baal is a good example of a probable demon. There was also an ancient Irish god called Crom Cruach whose name meant something like “bloody bent one” or “crooked one” or something like that, to whom human sacrifice was offered. St. Patrick ended his worship. Remember, many of these gods received awful human and child sacrifice, and of course when this happens, demonic influence enters in, even if the god was only a human invention to begin with. Also, the ancients were very involved with the spirits, and interacting with them, in ways we would today see only in witchcraft which is usually done in secret by few people, or in tribal medicine/religion.
There’s an interesting talk I watched years ago on YouTube by a Jewish man who become Catholic: The Role of Demons in Pagan Religions - YouTube
Definitely worth a watch, he tells some great stories!
 
Oh interesting, I had no clue!

Is it related to the book Lord of the Flies?
 
Yes, William Golding borrowed a pre-existing phrase as the title of his book.
 
Gods that demanded human sacrifice like the gods of the Maya certainly were demons. Other, more benevolent ones, might have been deified humans or even angels in disguise.
 
Episcopalian said:
were the people that worshipped a “god’” before our Abrahamic God was discovered within Judaism, actually worshipping a demon?
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The LORD was known by Adam, Eve, Cain,Abel, Seth,… Noah, Shem, Japheth, Ham,… Abraham.

These other gods you speak of are corruptions in protests to invent gods that can be controlled by human imagination to grasp the objects of human sensible desires.

People go downhill to other pretend gods - that is social growth - corruption.
Humanity did not climb from 'no-gods to stone gods to a muslim type single god to a tribal abrahamic covenantal god to a christian god-man.
God revealed himself to his Chosen People from the beginning, and leaving this people in protest, the protesters pretend religion with imaginary imaginings of gods which are embellished by imagination over the centuries.
 
Episcopalian said:
So were the people that worshipped a “god’” before our Abrahamic God was discovered within Judaism, actually worshipping a demon?
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Not necessarily. While there’s no way of knowing really, I would surmise that ancient cultures like the Greeks and Romans, simply created gods for various things in life, the harvest, love, war, death, the sea, the wind, etc. Partly because it is in our nature to be religious creatures.

If you were to look for demon-worship in the ancient world, I would be looking in the direction of the ancient Incas and Aztecs, they had all the “normal” ancient gods, but also had gods that required human sacrifice and things like that. I would imagine some of those were demons.

I would think that the real demonic influence comes from religions that sprang up after Christ came and saved us. Probably not popular to say but it’s possible that some splits off from the Catholic Church and the likes of Islam are demonically inspired.
 
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